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The second travel ban executive order, expected to take effect today has been halted, by two federal courts in Hawaii and Maryland. Trump had recrafted the travel ban to exclude Permanent Residents and US Citizens, originally hailing from the seven countries. He has also halted the processing of refugees from those seven countries.
Although the second travel ban is not, on its face unconstitutional, it does have desperate impact on persons of Muslim faith. Since Customs and Border Patrol officers have wide discretion as to who to “suspect” and “admit” their innate biases do play a factor. Report of abuses in recent times are rampant. Even Mohammad Ali’s parents were detained simply because they were of the Muslim faith.
“There is nothing “veiled” about this press release: “Donald Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” Judge Watson of Hawaii wrote. And one may also argue that there has not been any recent incidents of terrorists trying to enter the United States from those seven countries.
Thus this useless travel ban encourages discrimination towards certain religion. If we weigh whether America can be safer with the travel ban vs. whether discrimination towards Muslim is a legitimate State interest, the travel ban becomes clearly unconstitutional. The purpose of enacting it is nothing more than fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to ban Muslims and serves no more than fueling hatred towards Muslims. The budget cuts to the Department of State will only enhance and prolong this process.

The 9th Circuit today, in an unanimous decision, indefinitely stayed the Executive Order banning individuals from the 7 Muslim countries. The broadly written order, called by Mr. Trump as “Beautifully written….which even a bad high school student would understand”, banned anyone coming in from the seven countries and applied to Green card holders, visa holders and everyone. The Trump administration argued that the seven countries were identified by Mr. Obama as terrorist breeding ground. After the defeat, Mr. Trump has said that he would issue another executive order. Hopefully this one will be narrowly drawn and exclude people possessing a green card or a visa.
But the real issue is that Trump is ruling by creating fear in the minds of people. That fear when generalized lead to the hatred of all Muslims. So far, this country is everyone’s country. You did not have to be Christian or white to belong here. Is there a particular dress code or food or entertainment that defines America? If this was Saudi Arabia, we women would have to cover ourselves head to toe. If we were to live there, we would curse at the heat and the cover and would not like that country. Similarly, getting people to not wear the hijab in France has led to Muslim people feel alienated. And thus, the most number of radicalized Muslims are from France.
I hear a lot of talk of how America needs to “assimilate” the Muslims. Is eating pork, or dressing in shorts American? Is eating beef American? How do you define America? And CAN you define America? You feel American if the general people love you and are friends. So far, America had done an amazing job doing just that, accepting everyone, no matter what our ethnicity is. We listen to Fareed Zakaria or Arianna Huffington, no matter their accents. Trump’s America might fail to do that. By hating Muslims, they will effectively shove Muslims to become radicalized.
And this brings me to my final point—Travel ban. I will even refrain from uttering the word Muslim. Is travel really essential to learn to become a terrorist? We have the internet. I have done many things that I would normally not have; simply by watching you tube videos. A recent New York Times article investigated the so called “lone wolf” attacks and proved that ISIS is behind all those killings. And the hatred for Muslims will only exacerbate the situation. Maybe Trump has no qualms about putting America in danger, because an unsafe America will only increase his power.